USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume I > Part 2
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This voyage of Marquette and Joliet up the Illinois river was, beyond ques- tion, the first visit of white men within the present borders of this state. It is quite probable, too, that the party when it reached the junction of the Des Plaines with the Kankakee, passed up the former river to a well known portage of the Indians across to Lake Michigan.
DEATH OF FATHER MARQUETTE.
The fate of the good and pious Father after his return to Green Bay in September, 1673, is thus recorded. After a few weeks' stay there h ereturned to Canada. He had faithfully promised the Illinois Indians at Peoria lake that he would return to them but his health had been sadly shattered and he had some doubts whether he could keep his solemn pledge. He resolved, how- ever, to try and devote the remainder of his life to their service. It was in the year of 1674 that he returned to the mission of St. Louis on Peoria lake, and there he labored with the natives, teaching them his simple faith and exhorting them to lead a better life. In the spring following, he started on his return to Green Bay, going down the east shore of Lake Michigan and on the 18th of May he entered a small stream, and asked to land that he might celebrate mass. Leaving his men with the canoe, he retired a short distance and began his devotions. As much time passed and he did not return, lis men went in search of him and found he was on his knees, dead. He had thus passed peacefully away while at prayer. He was buried on the spot, and there by the great lake, upon the bosom of which he had journeyed so many miles, in the obscure and forgotten grave, lie the mortal remains of the discoverer of Illinois and the great Mississippi Valley-his only dirge being the sad, sullen moan of the waters near which he sleeps his last sleep.
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Some writers have asserted that the small stream near which he died bears his name, but we can find no stream on the east shore of the lake bearing his name, nor is it known with any certainty what stream is meant.
It is, indeed, a sad fate that a man of such distinction-of such piety and zeal, should find at last such a resting place. He had devoted for many years his best energies in the service of his Divine Master, ministering to untamed savages, denying himself every comfort, even enduring cold, hunger and ex- treme fatigue, that he might uplift and improve the condition of the almost uncounted thousands of degraded humanity.
LA SALLE AND HENNEPIN.
In 1679 Robert de La Salle and Louis Hennepin began a voyage up Lake Erie in a small schooner named the Griffin. The vessel had been built for the purpose assigned and although of but sixty tons burden, yet it was a "stanch and seaworthy craft." This was the pioneer of all the vessels upon the Great Lakes. In this expedition Chevalier Henry de Tonty, a brave and intrepid soldier, who had lost his right hand in battle, was second in command, and ac- companying them with three "barefooted, gray coated friars" of the mendicant order of St. Francis.
They passed up the lake through the straits of Detroit, and thence through the river and Lake St. Clair into Lake Huron. In that lake they encountered heavy storms, so that they had much difficulty in reaching the Straits of Mack- inac. There they remained for some time and La Salle built a fort on the main land, on the south side of the straits, which he named Michilimackinac, and by this name it was known for more than a century. This, undoubtedly, was the first fort ever built by white men in the whole western country.
He then sailed to Green Bay, where a large quantity of furs had been col- lected for him by the natives. Loading the Griffin with these and placing her in charge of a careful pilot and fourteen sailors, he started her on her return voy- age. The vessel was never again heard of. Whether she and her crew had been swallowed in the angry waves or captured by hostile Indians and destroyed and the crew murdered, nothing was ever known. He then collected his men, thirty in all, and the three monks and started on his great undertaking of bind- ing the country from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico by a chain of forts to his sovereign, the King of France. He passed down the shore of Lake Mich- igan to the Chicago river and then by a portage across the country, embarked again upon the waters of the Kankakee. Floating down this by easy stages, they entered the Illinois, and about the last days of December of that year, reached a village of the Illinois Indians. They were greatly in need of food. It was the dead of winter and the only game they had obtained on their voyage down the river was a half famished buffalo, found struggling in the river.
This Indian village as described by Father Hennepin contained about five hundred cabins and was situated on the bank of "Illinois lake." It is difficult to determine at this time what body of water was referred to, but it is thought they intended to describe a widening of the river near the present site of the village of Utica, in La Salle county, as there was a large village of the Kas- kaskias, a branch of the Illinois Indians, on a meadow below that village. Upon
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landing, they found the cabins all deserted, the Indians, at the time, being away on hunt for game farther down the river. La Salle and his companions being in want of food, searched for it and found a large quantity of corn concealed in holes excavated beneath the cabins. Securing a sufficient quantity of this for their use, which they stored securely in their canoes, the party again em- barked on their journey down the river and on the evening of "New Year's day," 1680, entered the Peoria lake. This lake is described by them as being "seven leagues in length by one broad, and the country on the borders is called Primitouri," by the natives, meaning the place where fat beasts abound.
On the shores of the lake they found large numbers of the natives but they were gentle and peaceable, and soon a friendly intercourse was established between them and the white men. The natives rubbed the uncovered feet of the monks with bear's oil and the fat of the buffalo, and fed them with meat, placing with much ceremony the first three morsels in their mouths, as a mark of great civility.
LA SALLE BUILDS A FORT.
La Salle and his fellow voyagers spent some time with the natives. Some of these Indians at the Lake "Illinois" belonged to the Illinois tribe, and Father Zenabe, one of the monks, desired to remain and return with them to their village, to engage in spiritual labors and "save them from perdition."
There was a mission at the lower end of the Peoria lake, established there, it is claimed, by Father Duguerre in 1657, and which remained in his charge for several years, but it was abandoned previous to 1673, when Father Marquette and Joliet passed up the river, for neither of them made any mention of it whatever.
La Salle and his hardy followers were much worn out with fatigue from their long and arduous journeys and were in an almost hopeless state of de- spondency. This little band of white men were the only ones in the whole valley of the Mississippi, and surrounded by savages as they were, he resolved to build a fort that should serve to protect them until spring and as a rallying point in the future. This fort was named "Creve Coeur" or "Broken Heart," but its exact location cannot now be definitely determined, whether upon the east or west side of the lake.
LA SALLE RETURNS TO CANADA.
Winter passed away ere the fort was finished and the broad prairies were again green with verdure. The intrepid leader of the expedition despairing of receiving reinforcements long since promised him, resolved to return to Can- ada for help to prosecute his voyage to the gulf, and also obtain rigging and tackle for a small vessel they had commenced building for their journey down the river. Leaving Tonty, one of his most faithful followers, in charge of the fort, there to await his return, he directed that Father Hennepin, with two men, should proceed down the Illinois to the junction with the Mississippi, thence up that stream to discover, if possible, its source. He then turned his face toward Canada, taking a new route. He pursued his lonely way upon foot over snow- banks and ice, with no provisions but such as his gun could procure. He found
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his way back to Frontenac, the governor of Canada, and asked for further means to prosecute his desired adventure.
While passing Starved Rock, then known as Le Rocher, or the Rock, he was forcibly struck with the spot as a most suitable place for a fort and dis- patching a message back to his faithful Tonty, ordered him to occupy the Rock for a fort. There is probably not in the whole Illinois valley a place more capable of defense than that. It is 160 feet in height, with three sides perpendicular, while the fourth is so steep that a few men could stop a whole army when equipped with the weapons then in use.
TONTY OCCUPIES "THE ROCK."
Tonty, with a part of his garrison at Creve Coeur, went to the Rock and at once engaged in fortifying it, but while so engaged he was alarmed by a report of the revolt of the men left at Creve Coeur. He returned there with all speed and found that one-half of the men had deserted, taking with them such arms and provisions as they could carry. Tonty had no alternative but to leave the fort at once and return up the river. Taking with him Father Gabriel an.1 those of the men that were faithful, he went to the Indian village at "Illinois Lake," where he remained for six months, devoting his time to teaching the natives the use of firearms and the construction of a rude fortification for their village.
TONTY RETURNS TO GREEN BAY.
Soon after it was announced that a war party of the Iroquois, numbering five hundred warriors, was advancing into their country. Tonty and a com- panion, one Zenabe Membre, acted as ambassador between the town powers, and soon the Calumet was smoked and a peace arranged, but the Illinois war- riors considering that "discretion was the better part of valor," fled, leaving Tonty and his five companions alone. Tonty then had but one recourse and that was to return as best he could to Green Bay. He left the village in an old canoe, without any supplies, and started up the river with all speed. On the way up, Father Gabriel was cruelly murdered by the Kickapoo scouts and his body was left where it fell, a prey to the wild beasts. The remainder of the party passed up the west shore of Lake Michigan to the bay, thence to Mack- inac, there to await the return of their leader.
HENNEPIN STARTS FOR THE GREAT RIVER.
Meanwhile, Father Hennepin and his companions soon after the return of La Salle to Canada, prepared for their long and tedious voyage to the head waters of the Mississippi. On the morning of the last day of February, 1680, the light bark canoe is pushed from the shore, the provisions and arms having been carefully stored in it, and the three companions leap into it. The light paddles are seized, and as they float down the swift current, the good old Father Gabriel advances to the water's edge and bestows upon the little com- pany his parting benediction. They are once more upon the water, bound for- they hardly know where, but this they know, that they have a long and tedious Vol. 1-2
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journey before them-that untold dangers await them and that perhaps they have looked upon the faces of their comrades for the last time.
The canoe moved swiftly down the gentle current, and Father Hennepin, as was Marquette before him, was charmed with the beautiful country through which they were passing, bestowing upon it the title of "The Delight of America."
The mouth of the river was reached in safety and they then beheld with dismay the surface of the great river filled with floating ice, a sight, at once disheartening in the extreme. They remained there three days in order to pre- pare for that hazardous journey up the mighty river, and on the 12th of March, 1680, commenced the ascent, paddling up the icy stream for a month, reaching the mouth of the Wisconsin, April 12th.
Here they were surprised and taken prisoners by a band of Chippewa Indians, who took them up the river through Lake Pepin to the falls, which he named St. Anthony, in honor of his patron saint. They remained in the vicinity of the falls for several weeks, hunting the buffalo and other game, Hennepin, dur- ing their stay, baptizing many of the native children. Their captivity continued until fall, when Hennepin, having obtained permission of the chief to return to Canada, provided him with a map, sketched on bark, of the country through which they were to pass, their route being by way of the Wisconsin river.
HENNEPIN RETURNS TO CANADA.
Once more these hardy adventurers are in their canoe bound for home and civilized life. Entering the Wisconsin, they paddled up that stream to the portage into the Fox, thence down that and across Green Bay to Mackinac, reaching there in November, 1680. He wintered there with Father Pearson, a Jesuit, and on the last day of March, 1681, reembarked on Lake Huron, passed over Lake Erie to the falls, thence by portage to Lake Ontario, and to Frontenac and Montreal, and on the last day of April reached Quebec, having been absent two years and a half.
LA SALLE RETURNS TO ILLINOIS.
In the meantime La Salle had obtained from the governor of Canada his recruits and supplies and started on his return trip to the Illinois, reaching which, he passed down the river to the Rock, which he found deserted, as was also the fort, Creve Coeur. Almost discouraged at what he there found, he went back to Green Bay, where he soon after met his old companion, Tonty. Once more this intrepid man entered upon his scheme of discovering the mouth of the Mississippi. Gathering together his scanty resources as best he could and with his ever faithful Tonty and a few Frenchmen, started once more on his long and adventurous journey. Tonty and a few of the companions had preceded him and they were to meet at the mouth of the Chicago creek. They met there, and as it was then winter and the rivers frozen over, they prepared sledges and traveled across the country to Peoria lake, which then being open
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water, they launched their canoes once more and started on their hazardous enterprise.
LA SALLE DISCOVERS THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
From Peoria lake they descended to the Mississippi and were then borne upon its swift current, reaching the gulf on the 9th of April, 1682, where the necessary forms were gone through with and the whole country through which they had journeyed was taken possession of in the name of the King of France. Hennepin claimed to have discovered the mouth of the river in 1680, but the claim has since been proven to be a false one. .
LA SALLE AND TONTY RETURN TO ILLINOIS.
In the summer of 1683, La Salle and Tonty returned to the Illinois, and caused the fort on "The Rock" to be completed and occupied, and leaving Tonty in command of it, in the fall of that year returned to Quebec and thence to France to lay before his sovereign his plans for the occupation and settlement of the vast country of which he had taken possession.
LA SALLE'S EXPEDITION BY SEA.
In 1685 he started from France on another expedition by sea to the mouth of the Mississippi, intending to erect a fort at the mouth and thus possess the country in fact. He met with many accidents and disasters and failed to find the mouth of the river, but landed far west of it in Matagorda Bay. He there erected a fort, naming it Saint Louis and then attempted to return to the Missis- sippi by land. But the whole country was a wilderness, without road or trail to lead them on their journey, and the attempt was a disastrous failure This attempt was repeated several times but without success.
DEATH OF LA SALLE.
Finally, in 1687, in one of those attempts, he was assassinated in a cowardly manner by one of his own men, who had a few days previously killed with an ax three of his most faithful followers, one of them being his nephew, to whom he was greatly attached.
La Salle did not speak after he was shot, but grasping the hand of his only companion, Father Anastasius, he died calmly, and his body was left where it fell to be devoured by beasts, the place of his death being on a small branch of the Trinity river.
The spot where this cruel tragedy occurred has forever been unknown, al- though careful search was made for it through many years. After his death the party went forward and in time reached Fort St. Louis on the Rock. There Tonty received them with open arms and informed them that the year previous he had descended to the mouth of the Mississippi with a party of followers, expecting to find La Salle there, but being disappointed he returned up the river
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and at the mouth of the Arkansas built a fort which the party from the La Salle expedition saw on their way up the river.
FORT ST. LOUIS AT "THE ROCK."
The friendly Indians of Illinois had gathered around Fort Saint Louis in large numbers and had built their cabins there and under the leadership of Tonty had repelled an attack upon it in 1684, by the warlike Iroquois. This fort was then the seat of the French power in Illinois and it was considered a post of the highest importance. But not long after that time its history became obscure and the Rock was not mentioned in the history of the country until 1770, when the remnants of the Illinois tribes gathered upon it to make their last stand and were almost totally annihilated and thenceforth it was known to the white settlers as well as the Indians as "Starved Rock," and by that name it has become one of the most celebrated of the historic spots in the state.
THE NORTHWEST IN 1689.
At the time of which we write there was not a single permanent settlement in the whole northwest territory. The forts that had been erected by La Salle and Tonty were soon afterward abandoned and their very sites were lost in the years that followed.
Fort Dearborn, the first fort built on the shore of lake Michigan in Illinois, was not built for more than a century later, while many other points that had become familiarly known to the settlers in the east and Canada have long since gone to decay, obliterated and lost. Even Fort Michilimackinac, at the Straits of Mackinac, that had been built with so much care, was abandoned and the mission at St. Ignace on the north side of the straits was the only rallying point for the few religious enthusiasts, who at times visited those shores.
THE GREAT LEADERS.
The indomitable spirit and energy that pervaded the minds and controlled the actions of Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, of the intrepid La Salle and Father Hennepin, had expired when those great leaders passed from the stage of action, and henceforth it was but the solitary monks and friars, the voyagers and traders, who passively filled the places left vacant by the zealous men, who first beheld these fair prairies and these majestic rivers. The trader had entered the field with his "firewater," and that was dealt out to the natives instead of the religious faith, the glorious example and the earnest love and good will of the father.
That deadly poison to the untamed savage he exchanged for their buffalo robes, their beaver skins and other fine peltries, which they had with so much labor gathered.
STATE OF ILLINOIS-AREA AND BOUNDARIES.
The state of Illinois, long known to the world at large as the "Prairie state," is situated between the thirty-seventh and forty-second degrees of north
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latitude, north and south, and from the Indiana state line to the middle of the Mississippi river, east and west, being 385 miles in extreme length and 218 miles in extreme width, containing 56,000 square miles of land and including its share of Lake Michigan, 56,640 in all, or 35,840,000 acres of land surface.
It was admitted into the Union as a state by act of congress, which was passed April 18, 1818, and by that act these boundaries of the state were fixed : From the confluence of the Ohio with the Mississippi river, at Cairo, up the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash; thence ascending that river to the meridian of Vincennes, then in a straight line to Lake Michigan, from which point it takes a turn east along the northern line of Indiana to the middle of Lake Michigan, thence north along the middle of the lake to North latitude forty-two degrees and thirty minutes, thence west along said line, which divides it from Wisconsin to the middle of the Mississippi river, thence down that river to place of beginning.
CONSTITUTION ADOPTED.
Following this, a convention was held in the village of Kaskaskia, then the capital of the territory, on August 26, 1818, when a state constitution was adopted and that constitution was ratified by congress, December 3d of that year.
At the time of its admission as a state, it had a population of about 50,000, having 55,211 at the time the census was taken two years later. The state was a part of the great northwest territory, which was ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784. It was created into a territory, April 24, 1809, by act of congress, and President Madison appointed Ninian Edwards the first governor of the territory. He was a native of Maryland and was born in 1775, studied law, and removed to Kentucky, being a citizen of that state when appointed governor. He died at Belleville, Illinois, July 30, 1833, and the county of Edwards was named in his honor.
At the time of its formation into a territory, it extended from the Ohio river to Lake Superior and included within its borders the present state of Wiscon- sin. The year. following its admission as a territory it contained a population of 12,282.
AFTER IT BECAME A STATE.
When admitted as a state it contained in all sixteen counties and the state capital was located at Kaskaskia, a small village on the river by that name, six miles above its junction with the Mississippi, and about two miles from that stream. At the first election Shadrach Bond was elected governor and Pierre Menard lieutenant governor. They were inaugurated October 6, 1818. The first legislature passed a law removing the capital of the state to Vandalia, a small town near the center of the state in Fayette county, and the government records were removed there in December, 1820. At the session of the legislature at Kaskaskia, four new counties were formed and at the first session at Van- dalia, in January, 1821, six more counties were formed, giving the state at that time twenty-six counties.
Among the last counties formed was that of Pike, a most remarkable as well as extensive one, for it included within its borders the whole northern part
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of the state. Chicago was then "a village of Pike county, situated on Lake Mich- igan at the mouth of the Chicago creek, and contained twelve or fifteen houses, and between fifty and sixty inhabitants." The whole county did not have to exceed 2,000 white settlers.
THE STATE BANK.
It was at the session of the legislature in January, 1821, that the law was enacted creating a state bank. It was to be located at Vandalia, with four branches, namely, at Brownsville, Edwardsville, Shawneetown and at the seat of justice in Edwards county. The measure met with a very violent opposition from some of the very best men in the state, but owing to the then depressed financial condition of the state and also of the poor settlers who were so heavily in debt for their land and improvements, and aided by the many land sharks, the bill passed successfully and became a law. It proved exceedingly popular for a time and some $300,000 in state paper was issued to the impecunious settlers and security was taken upon most anything offered and to whoever wanted it. But there was no redemption provided for the paper and soon it began to depreciate in value, so that in less than two years from the time of the passage of the act it took three dollars of it to pay one in debts. The property upon which it was loaned was in most instances of very doubtful se- curity, and the borrowers were exceedingly dilatory in discharging their obliga- tions to the state, and the result was in five years the state had lost a quarter of a million dollars.
One of the most vigorous of the opponents to the bank was John McLean, then speaker of the house of representatives, and so violent was the fight he made against it, though defeated, yet a grateful people realizing his worth and his eminent ability as a statesman, elected him United States senator and his name is perpetuated in the history of the state, for the great county of McLean was named after him.
FIRST EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE STATE.
The first county formed in the state was that of St. Clair, in 1790. It occupied the extreme southern point, extending up both the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, the Illinois being its northern boundary. Soon after, the county was divided into St. Clair and Randolph.
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